Revisions in the subjects of the Board Licensure

Examination for Certified Public Accountants (BLECPA)

Posted on 3/23/2016

Manila, March 18, 2016 --- The Professional Regulation Commission, together with the Professional
Regulatory Board of Accountancy, issued PRBOA Resolution # 262, Series of 2015 entitled Reduced the
number of the BLECPA subjects that are included in the scope of the Board Licensure Examination for
Certified Public Accountant from seven (7) to six (6) which effective on March 9, 2016.

Pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 9298, otherwise known as the Philippine Accountancy Act
of 2004, the Board has the power to revise, exclude or add new subjects in licensure examination as the
need arises.

The subjects in the BLECPA have remained unchanged since 1975 and are now long overdue for revision
to take into account the requirements of the current times. Before the proposed revisions, the PRBOA
conducted a series of consultations with the members of the academe and other stakeholders to outline
the new subjects for the BLECPA. The revision does not depart radically from the present content of the
BLECPA subjects.

This decision has been concluded to rationalize and integrate related subjects for better comprehension
and more effective application of the theory into practice.
The Certified Public Accountants (CPA) licensure examination has always been viewed
as the ultimate test of competency and the mark of quality for all aspiring accountants. It
has been bannered by accounting schools and reviewer institutions as a gauge of their
educational standards, taking pride in their passing percentages and the number of
topnotchers that graduate from their hallowed halls.

The current seven subjects in the CPA examination as provided in the Revised Philippine
Accountancy Law of 2004, Republic Act 9298, had been in place for almost half a
century. The seven subjects are Theory of Accounts, Auditing Theory, Management
Services, Auditing Problems, Practical Accounting Problems P1, Practical Accounting
Problems P2, and Business Law and Taxation. These subjects have equal weight, equal
number of hours in the examination but different total number of questions depending
on the nature of the subject.

Since Section 15 of the Accountancy Law allows amendments to the CPA examination,
the Board of Accountancy (BOA), after considering the developments surrounding the
profession and the clamor of the different sectors of the profession, particularly those in
academe during the debriefing conducted after the May 2015 examinations, decided to
have the long-overdue revisions. The highlights of the revisions are as follows: 1)
Reduction in the number of subjects from seven to six; 2) Merging auditing theory and
practice into one subject; 3) Merging accounting theory and practice and distributing the
pertinent topics in Theory of Accounts, Practical Accounting I, Practical Accounting II
to Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Advanced Financial Accounting and
Reporting; 4) Segregating Business Law and Taxation into Taxation and Regulatory
Framework for Business Transactions; and 5) Renaming Management Services to
Management Accounting Services.

The revised six subjects in the CPA licensure examinations are now Financial Accounting
and Reporting, Advanced Financial Accounting and Reporting, Management Accounting
Services, Auditing, Taxation, and Regulatory Framework for
Business Transactions.

Next step issues and concerns 100 percent mapping. The Commission on Higher
Education Technical Committee chaired by Dr. Arnel Uy did a mapping of the subjects
in the current Bachelor of Science in Accountancy curriculum with the existing seven
subjects and the revised six subjects in the CPA licensure examinations. The result was a
100 percent match.

Issuance of the PRC Resolution revising the subjects. The resolution had been
signed by the BOA and is now for the approval of the Professional Regulation
Commission (PRC).

Finalization of syllabi and Table of Specifications (TOS) by October 2015. The

BOA, with the support of the National Association of Certified Public Accountants in
Education headed by its president, Omar Ampongan, conducted a workshop for the
revision of the CPA Examination Syllabi and TOS. The workshop was participated in by
the BOA; deans, chairmen and faculty of accountancy schools; CPA reviewers; and
representatives of the accountancy sectors in public practice and commerce and
industry. The output shall be out before the end of October 2015.

Coordination with the appropriate offices in PRC to implement the

change. Coordination meetings with the commissioner and heads of the different
divisions of the PRC have been conducted by the BOA to address issues and concerns
that may possibly arise as a result of the revision in the examinations.

Preparation of test questions for the test bank under the outcome-based
framework. The members of the board are now in the process of preparing
examinations questions based on the revised subjects and geared toward the competency
requirements of outcome-based education.

Two-year transition for conditional examinees. Conditional examinees in the seven

subjects will still have the two-year period within which to retake the conditioned
subjects based on the seven subjects.

Conduct of public awareness and consultations. Information dissemination and

consultations are being conducted and are still ongoing. The Metro Manila group was
held at the University of the East, Manila attended by more than 900 deans, faculty and
students; the Luzon group was held at the Tarlac State University with more than 500
deans, faculty and student attendees; while the Visayas group held at the University of
San Jose Recoletos in Cebu was attended by almost 1,000 deans, faculty and students.
These are besides the awareness campaigns conducted at the Philippine School of
Business Administration Quezon City and at the University of the Philippines Diliman
and those already scheduled to be conducted. Similarly, awareness campaigns have been
made at the mid-year conventions of the National Federation of Junior Philippine
Institute of Accountants for Region 3, Region 1 and Cordillera Administrative Region,
and the National Association of Certified Public Accountants in Education. The
implementation of the revised CPA Examination subjects shall commence in the May
2016 CPA Licensure Examination